fugitive
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English fugitive, fugityve, fugityf, fugitife, fugytif, fugitif, from Latin fugitīvus.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
fugitive (plural fugitives)
- A person who flees or escapes and travels secretly from place to place, and sometimes using disguises and aliases to conceal his/her identity, as to avoid law authorities in order to avoid an arrest or prosecution; or to avoid some other unwanted situation.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, […] the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!”
Synonyms edit
- abscotchalater (archaic)
- nomad
- wanderer
- runaway
Translations edit
a person who is fleeing or escaping from something
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Adjective edit
fugitive (comparative more fugitive, superlative most fugitive)
- Fleeing or running away; escaping.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- I found afterwards that he was the chauffeur, who filled the gaps left by a succession of fugitive butlers.
- Transient, fleeting or ephemeral.
- Elusive or difficult to retain.
Translations edit
fleeing or running away
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transient, fleeting or ephemeral
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elusive or difficult to retain
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Related terms edit
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
fugitive f (plural fugitives)
Further reading edit
- “fugitive”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin edit
Adjective edit
fugitīve